Mattel introduces new robotics engineer Barbie to inspire girls

Mattel wants to inspire girls to get into technology even more. The company introduced a new Robotics Engineer Barbie to get interest in STEM.

Currently only 24% of STEM jobs are held by women. This makes this field very underrepresented while it has huge potential.

So, Mattel wants to be in the forefront of inspiring girls to take on engineering jobs. The company has a partnership with Tynker which is a kids coding platform. As part of it, Mattel will release six Barbie-inspired coding experiences.

These lessons are designed to teach logic, problem-solving, and the building blocks of coding, while casting young learners in different roles alongside Barbie, ToyNews reports. The company also marks the occasion with the new Barbie doll. With it, there are now more than 200 careers which Barbie holds.

“For almost 60 years, Barbie has exposed girls to roles where women are underrepresented to show them that they can be anything,” said Lisa McKnight, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Barbie. “By playing with Robotics Engineer Barbie on and offline, we are giving girls a new platform for play in their imaginary world and teaching them important skills for their real world.”

“Our mission is to empower youth to become the makers of tomorrow through coding, and the Barbie brand is an ideal partner to help us introduce programming to a large number of kids in a fun, engaging way,” said Krishna Vedati, co-founder and CEO, Tynker.

The new Robotics Engineer Barbie will be in the stores later this year. Fans can already pre-order the doll.